Welcome back to another huge year of student focused and targeted curriculum initiatives at Thornlands State School. Our first week saw all of our classes embarking on lots of rich learning experiences but it also saw the continued implementation of our whole school writing program ‘Big Write’, which you would have heard about from your children. So far this year, teachers have already commented that they were impressed with their student’s abilities when discussing their writing ideas and that students were excited to start ‘fresh’ Big Writes in 2020.
Thornlands Thinkers
Year 5 students will be participating in our Numeracy Booster program during first term which aims to assist them with developing valuable problem solving skills. This is run through the IMPACT learning centre and historically this program has helped students to overcome many misconceptions around problem solving and to instil confidence in their own abilities. Our Year 6 students will be continuing on their coding journey with some students moving into the language of coding through the ‘Code Breaker’ UNIFY series which exposes, engages and challenges students to embrace innovation in a digital age. It aims to engage students to think and problem solve while acquiring an understanding of how technologies can work for them. The course has been designed to guide students through levels of computational, mathematical, design, systems and futures thinking.
Our previous Year 6 clever coders learning how to code and control their electronic ‘Makey Makey’ kits
Our Year 1 and 2 students have been engaging in robotics and computational thinking using our new Dash and Dot robotics kits. Mrs Cross and Mrs Banks were impressed with their student’s ability to engage in new ways of thinking as well as their willingness to maintain focus in order to meet the objectives of their tasks.